ARTICLE
On Thursday, September 9, 2021 CAA members met at Edison 777 for a General Meeting featuring CAA Past President Brett Kaufman speaking about several of his passions including mental health and how he came to find success through channeling those passions. CAA Executive Director Laura Swanson welcomed everyone back to fall events and thanked those who participated in the Golf Outing. She also reminded everyone about the upcoming Reverse Raffle benefitting the CAA Community Assistance Foundation. Following those announcements she turned the podium over to Brian Schottenstein, CAA President to welcome new members and introduce a guest speaker with family ties, his brother, Brett Kaufman. Kaufman began by reminiscing about his time as CAA President and acknowledged how far the CAA has come since that time and how much he has enjoyed seeing it grow before delving into the topic at hand, mental health, through his own personal experiences and journey describing how those have formed his work. “My passion is using our lives to serve us and to create from a place of healthy mental and physical states,” Kaufman said. “I believe, and this is just my belief system, it’s held in something very powerful, my belief is that’s called God, it could be the Universe, whatever it is to you. But it’s all happening as it’s meant to be so all of our challenges, and traumas and tragedies or little micro events happen in a way that serve us and that we can use to create. That’s been my life experience.” Kaufman discussed how his childhood and expectations of him as a child and his early life formed early definitions of who he was meant to be. Noting that he had early memories of being sensitive and being creative and loving the arts and these characteristics weren’t embraced leaving a strong imprint on him not only growing up but as an adult and in his business practices. Following the age of 10 Kaufman experienced a different life with a move into a loving family and used his previous experiences to act out and mask pain. Noting that not all experience were bad he found art and music and good people, and it opened his mind to what was possible. After graduating from college Kaufman wanted to make an impression on his girlfriend, now his wife despite having studied architecture and art, he did what he thought he was supposed to do and went into banking. Admitting, he was a terrible banker. Each experience, he views, as a learning experience. “It was very much living for weekends and vacations and retirement. There wasn’t a lot of inspiration in that environment. It really stuck with me,” Kaufman said. “I just couldn’t really bear the fact that was going to be how I was going to spend my days. I got an opportunity to work with my family, so I jumped out of banking and into the family business.” Kaufman felt safe and that he might be able to hide in the family business. Finding security and not expecting to learn. However, he ended up really learning the real estate business and lessons about caring about a team, building a reputation, honoring your word, and really thinking about things long-term and not just about the bottom line. It was while in the family business that he bought his first two duplexes in German Village. The design elements really excited him and finding ways to create affordable high-end product in an urban setting. “That was really my passion. How can I create things at an affordable price in an urban environment that had forward thinking design,” Kaufman said. “I was doing that in the morning and at night while I was working at Schottenstein Real Estate Group and eventually, I would bring that idea back to Schottenstein. I was bringing my passions that I was finding for creativity and design into the business.” Kaufman reference a note he wrote to himself on crumpled Schottenstein Real Estate paper stating, ‘The possibility I create for myself is to be fun, compassionate, present, courageous, confident and the author of my own life.’ He still carries the paper with him today. He realized that he wanted to create a life for himself and understood that if he wanted what he wanted he had to make it happen and create it. With this in mind, he founded Kaufman development creating a mission statement before anything else, employees, office, everything. He created the values that would drive the company and employees and on the very day of the General Meeting celebrated 10 years of Kaufman Development. Kaufman spent a few minutes to outline his projects from the beginning and through the creative evolution of design, programming, content and inspire and connect while also making a difference in people’s lives. Making things they were passionate about accessible where they lived. His current focus is on creating ‘Conscious Communities.’ “Communities that are focused not just on rents and proformas, but on impact, on honoring and creating spaces for other creatives to create, to heal. There’s a lot of programming around physical and mental health and creativity. We’re now not just building real estate; we’re trying to build community and trying to normalize this experience of being a human being and its challenges.” Following his presentation Kaufman took questions from the audience including giving people access to his podcast and to Besa to help find volunteer opportunities. Among his inspirations, having had incredible mentors, coaches, therapists, and family support throughout the year. His inspiration has changed through the years. But, today, his inspirations are his kids, being able to look them in the eye and feel good about what he’s doing keeps him accountable. And the idea of investing in others. “I’d rather create something from scratch that is really something that is all that I’m passionate about rather than come in on someone else’s vision,” Kaufman said regarding Dublin’s Bridge Park area choosing instead to focus on making Franklinton his version of that. “As far as scouting sites, mostly, that’s something I’ve been on the front end of. I have a knack for seeing dirt and seeing what can be created there. That’s been a gift that I have. That’s my art, I can create from a blank canvas. We cherry pick sites. We won’t do anything that doesn’t get us excited to get out of bed and go work on every day. That’s our filter, are we going to be excited to work on it, does everybody believe in it, can we create something unique and impactful?” Schottenstein thanked Kaufman for attending before those in attendance dispersed for the day.
On Thursday, September 9, 2021 CAA members met at Edison 777 for a General Meeting featuring CAA Past President Brett Kaufman speaking about several of his passions including mental health and how he came to find success through channeling those passions.
CAA Executive Director Laura Swanson welcomed everyone back to fall events and thanked those who participated in the Golf Outing. She also reminded everyone about the upcoming Reverse Raffle benefitting the CAA Community Assistance Foundation.
Following those announcements she turned the podium over to Brian Schottenstein, CAA President to welcome new members and introduce a guest speaker with family ties, his brother, Brett Kaufman.
Kaufman began by reminiscing about his time as CAA President and acknowledged how far the CAA has come since that time and how much he has enjoyed seeing it grow before delving into the topic at hand, mental health, through his own personal experiences and journey describing how those have formed his work.
“My passion is using our lives to serve us and to create from a place of healthy mental and physical states,” Kaufman said. “I believe, and this is just my belief system, it’s held in something very powerful, my belief is that’s called God, it could be the Universe, whatever it is to you. But it’s all happening as it’s meant to be so all of our challenges, and traumas and tragedies or little micro events happen in a way that serve us and that we can use to create. That’s been my life experience.”
Kaufman discussed how his childhood and expectations of him as a child and his early life formed early definitions of who he was meant to be. Noting that he had early memories of being sensitive and being creative and loving the arts and these characteristics weren’t embraced leaving a strong imprint on him not only growing up but as an adult and in his business practices.
Following the age of 10 Kaufman experienced a different life with a move into a loving family and used his previous experiences to act out and mask pain. Noting that not all experience were bad he found art and music and good people, and it opened his mind to what was possible.
After graduating from college Kaufman wanted to make an impression on his girlfriend, now his wife despite having studied architecture and art, he did what he thought he was supposed to do and went into banking. Admitting, he was a terrible banker. Each experience, he views, as a learning experience.
“It was very much living for weekends and vacations and retirement. There wasn’t a lot of inspiration in that environment. It really stuck with me,” Kaufman said. “I just couldn’t really bear the fact that was going to be how I was going to spend my days. I got an opportunity to work with my family, so I jumped out of banking and into the family business.”
Kaufman felt safe and that he might be able to hide in the family business. Finding security and not expecting to learn. However, he ended up really learning the real estate business and lessons about caring about a team, building a reputation, honoring your word, and really thinking about things long-term and not just about the bottom line.
It was while in the family business that he bought his first two duplexes in German Village. The design elements really excited him and finding ways to create affordable high-end product in an urban setting.
“That was really my passion. How can I create things at an affordable price in an urban environment that had forward thinking design,” Kaufman said. “I was doing that in the morning and at night while I was working at Schottenstein Real Estate Group and eventually, I would bring that idea back to Schottenstein. I was bringing my passions that I was finding for creativity and design into the business.”
Kaufman reference a note he wrote to himself on crumpled Schottenstein Real Estate paper stating, ‘The possibility I create for myself is to be fun, compassionate, present, courageous, confident and the author of my own life.’ He still carries the paper with him today. He realized that he wanted to create a life for himself and understood that if he wanted what he wanted he had to make it happen and create it.
With this in mind, he founded Kaufman development creating a mission statement before anything else, employees, office, everything. He created the values that would drive the company and employees and on the very day of the General Meeting celebrated 10 years of Kaufman Development.
Kaufman spent a few minutes to outline his projects from the beginning and through the creative evolution of design, programming, content and inspire and connect while also making a difference in people’s lives. Making things they were passionate about accessible where they lived.
His current focus is on creating ‘Conscious Communities.’ “Communities that are focused not just on rents and proformas, but on impact, on honoring and creating spaces for other creatives to create, to heal. There’s a lot of programming around physical and mental health and creativity. We’re now not just building real estate; we’re trying to build community and trying to normalize this experience of being a human being and its challenges.”
Following his presentation Kaufman took questions from the audience including giving people access to his podcast and to Besa to help find volunteer opportunities.
Among his inspirations, having had incredible mentors, coaches, therapists, and family support throughout the year. His inspiration has changed through the years. But, today, his inspirations are his kids, being able to look them in the eye and feel good about what he’s doing keeps him accountable. And the idea of investing in others.
“I’d rather create something from scratch that is really something that is all that I’m passionate about rather than come in on someone else’s vision,” Kaufman said regarding Dublin’s Bridge Park area choosing instead to focus on making Franklinton his version of that. “As far as scouting sites, mostly, that’s something I’ve been on the front end of. I have a knack for seeing dirt and seeing what can be created there. That’s been a gift that I have. That’s my art, I can create from a blank canvas. We cherry pick sites. We won’t do anything that doesn’t get us excited to get out of bed and go work on every day. That’s our filter, are we going to be excited to work on it, does everybody believe in it, can we create something unique and impactful?”
Schottenstein thanked Kaufman for attending before those in attendance dispersed for the day.